Rusted lift arm ball

[Kando]

Hello TBN, on my little International 244, the lift arm balls have been rusted in place. One moves somewhat freely, but the other is seized. I have both stuck in a small bucket of PB blaster to soak, however so far it hasn't helped. They've been soaking overnight. Thoughts?

I'll pop pictures up in a little while.

 

[George2615]

I had one seized up a few years ago. After soaking I wire brushed the visible parts of the ball then stuck a 1" bar (1" if I recall the size correctly) in the ball and hit with a hammer to rotate the ball. Then soaked, brushed and rotated the ball again. Eventually it freed up. Once freed up the ball was completely brushed and greased. Took some time but worked for me.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Keep soaking and then place the arm in a vice or back on the tractor to hold it while you use a pry par or length of pipe to stick through the ball and start working it back and forth , it should start moving. Once you get it moving clean it as stated above and lube , you should be good to go.

 

[Kando]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[PILOON]

I religiously oil mine twice a year when I do the 'seasonal changeovers'.
Those, and all the rest of the linkage components
I do believe it has paid off as my CUT is an'80's and everything is nice and free.*

(My cut has no choice but to sleep in the elements)

*LOL, bit too free as I lost a T-buckle and that was not 'free'.

 

[Kando]

Couldn't loosen it up in the vice with a hammer and bar, so I did this. Hooked it onto the top link of the Ford, stood on the other end and started moving it back and forth. Finally got it to break free. I'll continue working on it, dousing with some more PB and brushing to work out the rust. Set them back in the bucket to soak some more, probably remove the tomorrow for good and just work it out.

Recommendations for treating the metal afterwords? Currently WD-40 is my go to for light duty work, and they're stored inside, but I'd like something a little better to treat them with to help prevent further issues.

 

[George2615]

I use white lithium grease on mine.
Kroil or Fluid film would also work. I don't WD-40 at all.

 

[Tomtint]

WD40 or PB blaster and a torch would surely loosen it up.

 

[Kando]

WD40 or PB blaster and a torch would surely loosen it up.

I've got it loose, just need to work out the rust.

 

[Tomtint]

I've got it loose, just need to work out the rust.

Good deal... I have a combo pintle set up.. the top pivot tends to rust up and become a pita to close. I blast it with PB or WD and use a map gas torch on it for a few minutes. Once it loosens up, I smear grease on it and torch it again. The heat let's the grease become liquid and get inside the pivot.

 

[Spiros]

I soaked my lift arm fisheyes in phosphoric acid overnight. Rust away or something like that. Coca cola works well too. It has phosphoric acid in it. Next day
rinse and lubricate.

 

[flingwing1969]

A friend of mine got an old CJ-5 with a frozen four under the hood - couldn't budge it with a 6' cheeter. He made a concoction of 50/50 auto transmission fluid and acetone and let it soak for a few days - and he was able to break it loose without the cheater and got it running nicely. I'm going to make up a batch just to have, next best thing to Kroil, he says, and nowhere near the price.

 

[flingwing1969]

I religiously oil mine twice a year when I do the 'seasonal changeovers'.
Those, and all the rest of the linkage components
I do believe it has paid off as my CUT is an'80's and everything is nice and free.*

(My cut has no choice but to sleep in the elements)

*LOL, bit too free as I lost a T-buckle and that was not 'free'.

I think that's great advice. A light coat of grease goes a long way - stitch in time sort of thing, eh?

 

[oosik]

Its an gooey, slick PITA but every spring I grease the balls. I rotate them so they are a "no hole showing" situation and then slowly rotate and grease.

 

[AWSubie]

I use Permatex anti-sieze on the lift arms and top link threads.

 

[Dave M7040]

I had an old Nuffield 465 from 1968. It came with Cat 1 and Cat 2 balls which you could interchange.

The method of retaining the balls in the lift arms sockets was poor and I spent lots of time re-tracing my path to find a missing ball.

At TSC they were selling new lift arm ends with the balls permanently installed.

I bought two and had a real welder put them on the lift arms. $25 each in Canada today.

It helped in another way as the lift arms on the Nuffield were too short for some pto implements resulting in high pto joint angles.
These weld on ends added about 5" to the length of each lift arm.
Of course they ends could have been welded on to produce the same arm length.

It was not an expensive project. My experience with other tractors has been if the balls start to get seriously rusted, they rust the second time much more readily.

Dave M7040

 

[DJ54]

You'll have to try a 50/50 mix of ATF, and Acetone, next time you come across something like this. Beats both PB, and Kroil, and I thought Kroil was the best, but, not so. Just mix it in a dish detergent bottle with a snap lid, to keep the Acetone from evaporating. It will also remove paint, so keep that in mind. Buy a quart of each to try it. I now buy both by the gallon, and lasts for years.

 

[RalphVa]

I discovered that the ball on the lift arm on one side of my JD 2025R was still cemented in place by the paint applied at the factory. Guess I need to soak it in paint thinner.

When putting the bush hog on, I found the right side arm would not move right or left to ease the moving of the arm to different holes to try for when lifting the bush hog.

Once bought a rotary plow from the old Gravely dealer in town. The wheel on it was totally rusted in place. I kept applying WD40 and PB blaster and heating and banging on it. Finally came loose after a few days.

Ralph

 

[flingwing1969]

You'll have to try a 50/50 mix of ATF, and Acetone, next time you come across something like this. Beats both PB, and Kroil, and I thought Kroil was the best, but, not so. Just mix it in a dish detergent bottle with a snap lid, to keep the Acetone from evaporating. It will also remove paint, so keep that in mind. Buy a quart of each to try it. I now buy both by the gallon, and lasts for years.

That's what my buddy said. Nice to hear it is better than Kroil. I have a bottle made up just waiting for a place to use it - where is serious corrosion when you want it.

 

[Ford850]

WD40 works fine as a cleaner for me, and leaves a light film on tools, but I would not count on any rust protection from it. I use Fluid film on the balls and most other areas of the tractor for rust protection and mild lubrication. It creeps over time, so it will crawl up into the ball socket if you spray close to the seam.